


The Gamble

by breejah



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, First Time Bottoming, Fluff and Angst, Gags, M/M, Orgy, Porn, Prostate Milking, Public Sex, Sex Club, bisexual awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:54:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22112170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breejah/pseuds/breejah
Summary: Steve Harrington needed a break from Hawkins after losing Nancy, graduating High School with little to no opportunities, and facing down freakish alternate dimension monsters in his spare time. Signing up to be a camp counselor hours away from his home town seemed like a blessing in disguise....until Billy Hargrove showed up and ruined everything.Rated E for eventual explicit sex scenes.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 6
Kudos: 197
Collections: Taboo_January_Writing_Challenge_2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Considered to be set between Seasons 2-3 and delving into AU territory.

When he walked in the door of his designated counselor barracks, what he saw had him stopping in his tracks. In the the shared space - two bunks per two counselors, according to the summer camp’s housing rules - was none other than Billy Hargrove.

Billy was looking through a stack of magazines, glancing up at the sound of the screen door swinging open. His hair was perfectly coiffed as always, in that bad boy way that drove all the girls wild these days, a title he used to have before he graduated into the real world, where things like that didn’t matter in their small town. When Billy saw Steve standing there, a slow smirk curled the edges of his lips, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Steve stiffened, remembering the time Billy beat him to a pulp, hoping now wouldn’t be yet another one of those moments. He’d been through some shit in his short life, but fighting another of his size wasn’t something he was necessarily good at.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered with a sigh, mostly to himself, wandering inside and taking the spare empty bunk. Tossing his duffel bag onto the bare mattress, he gave him a quick side glance before glancing away, still in a state of disbelief. He tried to be friendly, but his tone came off condescending as he said out loud, “ _You’re_ my counselor roommate? You mean to tell me you’re here to supervise kids?”

For once, Billy didn’t have a cocky comeback or got in his face, lowering his gaze to toss a pillow over the magazines he’d been looking through. “I got a kid sister and I was one of the lifeguards at the city pool. They needed an aquatics instructor and this got me out of the house. Ain’t that far from Louisville, either. I get away from the old man as an added perk. What’s your excuse, Harrington?”

Steve blinked, not knowing what to say to that. This had been the most information he’d gotten out of Billy in, well, _ever_. Remembering himself, he finally shrugged, looking away when Billy gave him a glare, busying himself in putting sheets on his bunk and placing the few items he’d brought in his designated drawers. “Sort of the same, I guess,” he finally muttered.

Before they could say anything else, the dinner bell rang. Relieved for an excuse to part ways with the guy near him, Steve headed for the door.

“Wait up, Harrington,” Billy called over his shoulder, just as Steve was leaving. “We gotta eat in pairs, we’re supervising two tables of twelve-year-olds tonight.”

Steve groaned, rolling his eyes. “So much for freedom.”

He almost smiled at hearing Billy’s snicker. Something was different about him here, Steve could sense it, he just didn’t know what. Billy was less tense, less angry, and Steve didn’t know what to make of it. He wasn’t foolish enough to think this meant they could be friends when they returned home, but it was nice knowing he wouldn’t have to be on edge all summer, waiting for Billy to rub him the wrong way - or vice versa - and end up either bloody or kicked out of camp.

Once Billy caught up with him, they left together.

* * *

Two weeks went by and by all accounts, Billy was a totally different person at camp - during and after their counselor duties - than he had ever been back in their home town. Here, he was almost... _nice._

Staring at him from his bunk bed, he watched Billy stare covertly at the magazines in his hands, something he still hadn’t let Steve see. “Can I ask you something?” He finally found the courage to ask, watching Billy stuff the magazines under his pillow and turn his gaze towards him. He shrugged a shoulder, so Steve went on. “Why’re you so bloody different here than at home?”

Billy stared, a myriad of emotions flickering across his face, the silent stretch between Steve’s question and his response so long that Steve almost wondered if he’d pushed Billy too far and asked something too personal, anticipating the rude, harsh Billy from home to surface, when he finally sighed and shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know anyone here, and I’m not afraid of you. I know you’ll keep your mouth shut, considering I can beat your ass, so…” He trailed off, flashing Steve a grin that almost appeared predatory for a moment, making him swallow, when Billy shrugged again, glancing away. “I just don’t have to pretend here.”

“Pretend?” Steve asked, frowning. “About what?”

Billy ignored him, turning on his side, pulling his magazine out once more, flipping through it. Steve rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he settled on his back, canting his head towards where Billy shielded his precious books away from prying eyes. “What’s in that damn magazine that has you so engrossed all the time? Tits and ass?”

Billy went rigid and Steve lifted his head, swallowing faintly. “You know I don’t care, man. If you wanna keep it to yourself, cool. Whatever.”

“You...wanna see?” Billy asked, sitting up. Steve frowned, glancing his way, watching as Billy smirked and patted the spot beside him on the bed. “Promise it’ll blow your socks off, Harrington.”

Steve knew a bet when he heard one. Chuckling, he slid off his bunk and went over to Billy’s, flopping down where Billy motioned for him to sit. When Billy passed him the magazine, Steve froze, his eyes going wide at the images he was seeing.

It wasn’t women - at least, not the typical women you saw in normal porn rags. These were tied up, or standing with whips, with men and women alike moving on each other - with each other, sometimes against each other. It was every taboo thing he could have ever dreamed up inside his head and he swallowed thickly, surprised at the response his body gave him over the images he was seeing. He wasn’t a virgin, but he wasn’t exactly as experienced as he led people to believe, either. Billy, it seemed, was way out of his league when it came to sex if this kind of shit got him off.

“Holy _shit_ , man. You...done this kinda thing?” He asked, motioning to the ropes. Billy laughed - hard and deep, nodding as he bit his lip and thumbed through the magazine. Worse things followed, involving men going down on each other, fingering each other, _fucking each other._ Once more, he was shocked at his response, having had no clue such things were done - or that he’d like them - darting his gaze away when Billy lingered on a few images and stroked his fingers over the glossy pages.

“Not everything, but..most. Used to get in my ride, go to town, scratch a few itches. Where we live, you gotta be careful who you fuck. Bumfuck Indiana isn’t good for anyone wanting no strings or a little something freaky on the side. Everyone’s so damn _vanilla._ Older women are married and their old men are really suspicious. The men ain’t even worth trying for,” Billy laughed, shaking his head, either oblivious to how uncomfortable the conversation had gotten for Steve or didn’t care, continuing on as he thumbed through the magazine. “But I heard about a place down in Louisville I wanna check out next weekend, when we’re off.”

For the first time, Steve felt Billy look his way. “Wanna come, Harrington? Or you too vanilla for this kind of thing?” Billy chuckled again, patting his cheek, making Steve flinch and look back his way. “By the way you’re freaking out, I’m betting none of this ever entered that head of yours.”

By the look on Billy’s face, he was having way too much fun with this, his eyes alight for the first time from what Steve could tell. He swallowed thickly, embarrassed that he realized he was _aroused,_ from the images and from what Billy was describing. “Nah,” he found himself saying, “I’ll go.”

Billy blinked, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”

Steve swallowed again, hopping off the bed, keeping his back to Billy as he made his way to the bathrooms. There was no way he could face Billy until he dealt with this...issue...in his pants. “Yeah, really.”

Billy whooped with laughter. “Look at you, Harrington! A closet perv, just like me! Never would’ve thought. Fine, it’s on. Next Saturday.”

Steve didn’t hear the rest of what he said, slipping into the bathroom and fishing his cock out of his pants. _What have I gotten myself into? With... **Hargrove** of all people?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is just beginning to come to grips with the idea that he is bisexual, just as they hit up the club Billy promised.

By Saturday afternoon, Steve’s nerves were shot. Billy had been having a grand time during the week, teasing and prodding him in their shared cabin when their counselor duties were over by leaving those magazines of his in Steve’s empty bunk, open to full panels of some of the most shocking, graphic sex scenes he’d ever seen. He’d pull back his covers to crash for the night and there they were, waiting for him. It took every ounce of his self control not to turn and punch Billy in the face, laughing as he was when he saw Steve’s expression each time he discovered them. Just when he was about to lose his cool, Hargrove would grab it, pat his shoulder roughly, then rasp into his ear, “This ain’t got nothin’ on Saturday, Harrington. Relax, I’m just getting off enjoying you freak out now, but don’t do this at the club.”

Steve discovered pretty quickly that the first one Billy had shown him that first day was the most tame one of the pile. Every time, knowing Billy was probably laughing at his expense, he’d shove off his grip and tell him to fuck off, hearing Billy’s laugh as he climbed into bed, burrowing under the covers, his ears red and his cock hard from just a glimpse of the images in those porn rags.

It was becoming pure torture, what Hargrove was doing. He’d lay there, pretending to sleep, hard as a rock and leaking into his briefs until Hargrove would finally crash, waiting until he heard Billy’s even breathing, before he climbed out of bed and snuck into their shared bathroom, quickly and quietly masturbating to the very same images Billy had plagued him with hours earlier. Every time, he had to struggle to suppress his groans each time he climaxed.

He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him, he’d never entertained the idea of a guy before seeing those images, but since seeing them, it was like someone had taken blinders off his face that he hadn’t even known were there. Now, he began to notice men _everywhere_ and looked at them in the same way he looked at girls he liked. The only reason he wasn’t freaking out further is despite this new development - _Apparently my cock likes dick as much as pussy, it seems. My dick is a complicated dude. --_ was that he realized he had a type and not all men were suddenly attractive to him. It was the same with women; he had tastes and not every man fit those specifications. It cracked him up that some of the homophobia his town had in regards to homosexuality were laughably false. _Seems like they’re just the exact same as heteros, just in regards to dick._

Every morning after, he was quiet, almost reclusive, even when Billy would cheerfully ask him to breakfast - which he declined, of course. He didn’t feel comfortable being around this doppleganger of Hargrove, who was friendly and showed him orgy and gay porn every night, and of which he was going to be driving to a fucking sex club on Saturday. If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that Billy was aware of exactly what he was doing, making Steve question everything about himself. _How can he be so fucking calm about this?_ He thought one morning, watching Billy exit their cabin, wave to a few kids he’d gotten to know down by the lake, and left him standing there in turmoil. A few times during the past week, he’d nearly had an anxiety attack at the idea of being caught by him wanking off to images of two men together, but so far nothing had happened.

 _Not sure how long I’ll be able to keep this a secret, though,_ he thought morosely, staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and panting faintly from his latest fist fucking session. Billy was still at the lake and they had a few hours until he had to be ready to go to the club Billy discussed that first night in Louisville. _I still can’t believe I agreed to this, with Hargrove of all people._ He grimaced, looking over himself. He appeared a total wreck - flushed face, bitten lips, sweaty chest, and leftover splatters of semen painting his chest.

The crisp images of two men touching each other had led his imagination down a rabbit hole that had ended up morphing from the images in the magazine to Steve himself touching and sucking another man - thankfully faceless - and when the other man orgasmed in his mouth, he had come harder than he ever had in his whole damn life.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, still torn with how he felt about this new side to himself, he started the shower and waited impatiently for the water to get hot, ready to scrub off the evidence of what had happened moments earlier. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down and jumped in the shower, swallowing thickly at what the night would bring.

* * *

Steve cast an eye towards Billy as they drove in near silence towards the highway markers leading them to Louisville. “Mind if I ask you something?”

Billy glanced over at him briefly, then turned his profile back to the road. His chestnut hair was combed back and curled, the single earring he wore glimmering in the dim interior lights of the car. He wore a black button up shirt, leather jacket, tight jeans, and cowboy boots. His cologne smelled woodsy and Steve had to admit, he looked nice. If he hadn’t spent the last week coming to grips with his attraction to men, he’d be freaking out that he was checking out Hargrove and internally admitted he liked what he saw. At least, the camp counselor version of Billy -- who knows what Hawkins would bring when they returned home. “Yeah?” Billy asked, his grip on the steering wheel firm.

Steve thought how to ask what was on his mind, finally just blurting it out when Billy smirked at what was obviously Steve’s nerves. “How are you so comfortable with all this? With...the idea of being with dudes and chicks and ropes and shit?”

Billy chuckled, glancing back his way for a lingering second, staring at Steve in a way that had him nervously looking out the passenger window. He was genuinely curious and had no one to ask these sort of things to. Billy seemed so calm and collected around things like sex, especially sexual things that would have their Sunday pastor telling them they were headed straight for hell, and Steve was curious how a guy who looked like a nutcase back home was so at peace with the idea of dicking down a guy.

“My life has been a hard one. I’ve got enough things against me,” Billy finally said, his voice dropping in pitch as his fingers squeezed the steering wheel once more, his jaw flexing, drawing Steve’s curious gaze. He raised an eyebrow when Billy looked his way once more, then watched as Billy shrugged a shoulder and looked forward again. “I figured there’s no point in adding more on my plate. I like fucking chicks...and dudes. It’s sex. It feels good. There’s a difference between a guy and a gal, but for me...they both have their place. Life’s hard enough as it is, Harrington, no point in adding more pressure on yourself. So I like dick, so what? Just part of who I am, like the fact I like beer and cigarettes and hate pot roast. It's just a small part of who I am.”

Steve frowned, looking out the window. “How’d you figure out you like guys? Are things different in California?” He turned, glancing back at Billy. “That’s where you’re from, right?”

Billy laughed, shaking his head. “Not that different. You still gotta do things quietly, you know.” He grew serious for a moment, making Steve wonder what he was thinking, then shrugged a shoulder, taking the curve on the highway smoothly, whatever memory had made him appear almost tense gone, a sardonic smirk appearing on his face. “I had a friend at my last school. We...experimented. I liked it. When I left and came to this shit state, I drove a few towns over, to a place I’d heard about...tried it again. I also liked it. So, I figured my dick liked dick, end of story.” Billy glanced his way, giving Steve a lecherous grin. “Why, Harrington? Your dick figure out it likes dick, too? Is that why you’ve been giving me the silent treatment all week?”

Steve turned as red as a tomato, thankful for the dim interior of the car. He said nothing, just hearing Billy’s responding laugh to his silence, but Billy said nothing for the longest time to call him out on the fact that's exactly what had been happening all week. 

“Well,” he finally spoke, shattering the quiet as Steve sat in the passenger seat, rigid and uncomfortable, “ You better relax before we get there, because I promise you’re going to see a lot of it tonight. Don’t worry, though, there will be plenty of pussy, too.”

Steve swallowed thickly, studying the sprawling landscape outside his window like it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.

They said nothing for the rest of the trip.

* * *

The club was every image in the magazines being acted out. It was almost humid - hot enough that he felt sweat gather under his clothing. Pulsing music poured out of speakers and a dark bar across the wide club was serving drinks of all kinds - surprising Steve they were even able to get in, not being of a legal drinking age. It seemed Billy knew the owner; how he knew them Steve didn’t want to ask, so he didn’t. For once, he felt overdressed. Like Hargrove, he wore a button up shirt - his in red - with jeans and sneakers. His hair was slicked back this time, not trusting himself to destroy any coiffed updo once he made it to this place, and he was glad he managed to think ahead, because _holy shit._

Women were half naked and strapped to crosses, all intimate parts exposed. Men in leather were petting, spanking, or massaging their tits or in between their legs. In another corner, two men made out while stroking each other’s cocks, dicks out for the whole club to see. Next to them, two spread their legs while passing men were allowed to fondle, finger, and lick their holes or cocks, their bodies glistening with oil. By the smell, it was steeped in a fragrance of some kind. It was naggingly familiar, but Steve couldn’t quite place it. He felt overwhelmed and aroused, regretting wearing a pair of fitted jeans. His cock was pinched against the zipper as he stared at everything around him. What was shocking wasn't that it was just the naked women that made it hard - but also the naked men. He tried not to stare, but it was impossible. All the men were lean or muscled and his cock liked what it saw, to the point walking was almost painful.

Billy curled an arm over his shoulder, tugging him close, interrupting his brief sexual crisis. “Like what you see?”

Steve didn’t know what to say, just staring. Billy laughed, nudging him closer to the corner with men in it, an indistinguishable gleam in his eye. “Come over here. Let me show you something.”

For some reason, Steve followed. He didn't want to be that douche that was weird around naked dudes, so he played along and said nothing, still reeling that his dick was hard because of those very men they were now approaching. He went unnaturally still when he saw where Billy was leading them - to the area where the two indistinguishably good-looking men were spread eagle and bent over, allowing others to touch them. When the small gathered crowd noticed their approach, the others parted, gesturing to the two men, and Steve swallowed thickly as Billy sat down on an empty bench next to them and reached out, bare hands skimming the nearest man’s ass. Glancing up at Steve, Billy motioned him forward, and Steve - thinking this was insane, that if his family or ex-girlfriend could see him now, they’d be horrified - sat down mutely and watched.

Billy’s fingers drug across the man’s balls, his taint, then lightly massaged against the man’s hole. Steve watched, fascinated, as the man groaned and the tight ring twitched. Using his other hand, Billy grasped the man’s oiled cock, then gently sank his fingers down into the man’s ass, thrusting gently. When the man let out a loud cry and arched up into Billy’s searching fingers, he grinned Steve’s way.

Steve couldn’t _breathe,_ his dick was so hard. The sounds coming from the guy - hard and loud compared to the soft moans he'd experienced in the past with women - were different...but _hot_. “What are you...doing?” He managed to ask, embarrassed at the sound of his voice - breathless, hard-edged and wrecked - but he watched avidly as Billy kept going, swirling his fingers in and out of the guys wet hole, lubricated by the oil, adding one and then two more, finding something inside the man again and again that had the guy trembling and swearing out loud each time Billy thrust deep. Billy's nostrils flared each time the guy cried out and Steve realized, lowering his eyes, that Billy was hard and enjoying it as much as Steve was.

“Special place. When you hit it _just so_ …” Billy murmured, his own voice thick as he leaned back, tugging the man’s cock Steve’s way, grinning when he just held the man’s shaft still and moved his fingers once more, thrusting in that place that had the man crying out _'Yes! Right fucking there! Fuck yeah!'_ and Steve watched fascinated as the man’s dick twitched, then he came in one long steady stream. It seemed endless, pouring out in one long stream of come that pooled on the floor, versus the spurts Steve was used to seeing. _Just what the hell was Billy doing? And why did he want to know what that felt like?_ By the noises of the man, it was something next level that Steve had never felt. The man was a mess, begging for more, and Billy continued doing whatever he was doing - over and over - and Steve couldn’t believe how Billy managed to get about three more orgasms out of the man before he collapsed, clearly spent, his dick only half-hard now. Billy smirked, pulling his fingers out of the guy's hole, gently rubbing his hands over the man's ass, who trembled violently in the aftermath of whatever the hell Billy had just done.

The other guy nudged Steve, bringing him out of his locked stare, and he swallowed, jolted out of whatever trance Billy had put him into. Suddenly, the music in the club was too jarring, the people staring too penetrating, and he was ashamed for being a few seconds away from asking to take the man's place Billy had just brought to orgasm. Billy looked at him questioningly as he continued to stroke the man’s ass who was panting, recovering from multiple orgasms, and Steve didn’t know what to think - what to say - bolting upright and running for the bathroom.

_What the fuck am I doing?_  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The club doesn't go as planned, and things get awkward. At a boiling point, Billy finally forces Steve to admit something to himself - he likes Billy, more than he should.

Steve calmed down in the bathroom, relieved and yet disappointed Billy didn’t come to find him. He splashed some water on his face, willed his erection to a reasonable state, and gripped the door handle, forcing himself to take deep breaths.

When he blinked and stepped outside the bathroom, letting his eyes adjust once more to the darkness of the club, he saw Billy across the way, making out with a guy by giving him sloppy, wet kisses. Another man was between Billy’s legs, moving on him in a way Steve knew all too well about. Nancy had tried that a few times - poorly, he absentmindedly thought with sarcasm - along with a few other girls, so he knew a blow job when he saw one. What he didn’t expect was the sharp twist of jealousy and hurt that flared in his gut at the sight of it. Turning, not giving Billy a chance to see whatever look was on his face, he made his way towards the door to the covered patio he’d spotted when walking in - where most seemed to just come for a drink and smoke or even just a break from the lively festivities - congregated.

Sliding onto an empty plastic chair, he ran a hand through his gelled hair and took another deep breath. It didn’t matter what Billy did, it wasn’t like they came together. They weren’t even friends, not really. It mostly made him angry that Billy had conjured any of these confusing thoughts to begin with, it had _nothing_ to do with the fact that Steve wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Hargrove himself.

 _Totally,_ his mind echoed back at him, in a listless way that told him even his inner mantra wasn’t as convincing as he thought it was.

“Want a light?” A male voice asked next to him, making him blink and turn. There, crouched beside him, was an attractive man with thick dark braids and skin like ocre, so flawless it almost absorbed the light around him. He was fit, but not overly muscular, and when he smiled his teeth shone bright in his face. He was holding out a cigarette towards him, offering Steve one.

“Sure,” he found himself saying, taking the cigarette and placing it between his lips. The man chuckled, lighting a match, and Steve leaned forward to inhale, lighting the cigarette, tobacco and the taste of burnt ash filling his lungs. He didn’t breathe deeply, knowing better. He hadn’t had much cigarettes, but he knew how to smoke them, and right now he needed the distraction. “Thanks,” he said, after several slow pulls, thumbing the end of the cigarette and watching the ash float down to the pebbles beneath his shoes.

“Someone inside leave you lonesome?” The man asked, making Steve squint and look over his way. The man grinned again, making Steve smile back, but he shrugged a shoulder, looking away, not sure how much his eyes would give him away. 

“We’re not together, so not really,” he said, taking another pull. The acrid smell of tobacco filled his lungs, as good a distraction as any. The words still felt bitter on his lips, though. It was all Billy’s fault, making him feel this way about men in general, about him, filling his head with things he had no business contemplating. “He’s busy and I figured I’d wait out here.”

“But you wish he was busy with you,” the man replied with a laugh, making Steve turn sharply towards him, a grimace pulling at his face when he swallowed down too much smoke. Rather than cough, he shrugged, wincing as he blew out the smoke too fast, scorching his windpipe. 

The man looked beyond his shoulder, smirking faintly for a moment, then leaned forward. “Want to know what’ll help?” He whispered, tilting his head to the side, so close to Steve’s face he could taste the mingling sweet-sour scents of tobacco and cinnamon chewing gum. 

Steve frowned, not understanding. “What?” He asked, curious. Suddenly, the man slunk one arm forward, over Steve’s shoulders, fisting his long slim fingers in his hair. Steve blinked, barely having a chance to say anything, the cigarette between his fingers falling to the gravel beneath them, and the man was kissing him.

It was a pleasant kiss - different than a woman’s was, hard and rough where a woman’s cheeks would have been soft and delicate - but he liked it. Steve sucked in a breath, surprised, and felt the man’s tongue slide inside his mouth and swirl against his. Before he knew what he was doing, he was pressed forward, kissing him back, hearing the man’s rasp of laughter against his lips as he drank down what Steve was giving him, reaching lower, grasping Steve’s hips and then trailing along the buttons of his jeans. Steve groaned, bucking forward -

“The _fuck,_ Harrington?”

Steve gasped, pulling back sharply, dragging the attractive stranger he’d just been kissing with him. They nearly fell, half sprawled on Steve’s plastic chair, the stranger’s arms still tight around his shoulders, tight in his hair. He blinked owlishly, looking up, staring into Billy’s furious face.

“I….” Steve started to say, then stopped, not knowing _what_ to say exactly. Why the fuck was Billy mad at _him?_ He scowled then, reaching down and gripping the man leaning against him with both arms. “I came out here while you were busy. You know, with your tongue down one guy’s throat and your cock down another’s?”

Billy’s eyes darkened, his glare turning deathly, but Steve wasn’t about to take it back. What would have happened if Steve hadn’t darted off, shocked and weirded out by his own response, didn’t change the fact that Billy had left him and found someone else - _two_ someone elses, to be exact.

“You can get a ride home with me, if you like,” Purred the man in Steve’s arms. He looked down, meeting the coy, pleased look of the beautiful man he’d just been kissing. He opened his mouth, about to say yes, because _fuck Billy Hargrove,_ when Billy spoke out, his voice whipcord strong and harsh as stone.

“Absolutely fucking not. He’s with me. Come on, Harrington, we’re leaving.”

Steve glanced down at the man in his arms, shrugging with a sigh. “I have to, sorry. We’re working at the same camp. It’s a long story.”

The man smiled, nodding, slipping a piece of paper into the front pocket of his red shirt. “Sure, understand. Will you be back next Saturday?” He glanced towards Billy for a second, then chuckled. “I guess we’ll see. Name is Leon, by the way.”

“Steve,” he replied back quickly, helping the man to a stand. Leon patted his cheek softly, then smiled, sauntering back towards the club. Steve couldn’t help but watch him go, eyes riveted on the man. He really was fucking gorgeous.

“Christ, Harrington, one kiss and you’re acting like that? No wonder Nancy dumped your ass.” The bite in Billy’s words did exactly what they meant to, making Steve tear his eyes away from the retreating form of Leon and look back to Billy. Something dark, almost like regret, flickered in Billy’s eyes, and then it was gone, smothered by something far more familiar when it came to him and Billy - hate.

“Let’s go,” he said dully, ignoring the urge to fight with Billy, having the inkling that is what Billy wanted. Billy ground his teeth together, then turned, stalking off towards his car.

The trip back was as silent as the drive out to the club, this time filled with more tension than ever.

* * *

The next week was more familiar to Steve, at least from the way he and Billy kept themselves a steady arms length apart in both spirit and physical vicinity of one another. When Billy wasn’t working at the lake, Steve chose to take on extra shifts supervising the kids, and vice versa. They’d become virtual strangers since the night at the club and Steve, unsure of where this left them, said nothing. 

When they had to turn in for the evening, it was like a wall had been thrown up between the two of them. Billy kept his back to him, still thumbing through those stupid magazines of his, and Steve ignored both the curiosity that plagued him and the dull ache in his groin. He hadn’t touched himself once to the thought of Billy or his magazines, only allowing himself one session in the shower when he thought of Leon. He still had the guy’s number, the paper now soft from being bent too many times between his fingers, but for some reason he hadn’t called him.

It was nearing Saturday, and part of Steve wanted to ask Billy if he was planning to go back to the club, but another part of him - the larger, prideful part of him - refused to utter the words. He took extra long in supervising the kids that day, walking back to the cabin he shared with Hargrove when dusk was settling in, fully expecting Billy to have left by then. In some ways, that would have been the better outcome, at least then he would have some finality to the odd armistice between them. _Don’t care about a guy who doesn’t care about you,_ he told himself easily. If Billy was gone, shagging some other man or woman at that club, that would be easy to do. As much as Steve liked an occasional fling, he’d discovered with Nancy that he just wasn’t built that way. He liked relationships, getting to know your partner outside of the bedroom, sharing a side of yourself that only they saw. They also hurt, a _lot,_ when that person didn’t feel the same way with you that you did with them. Nancy had taught him that lesson and he’d be a fool to learn it again from someone like Hargrove.

When he walked in, he stopped dead in surprise, watching Billy pace the flooring between their bunks with a cigarette hanging from his lips, hands tugging through his curls, turning them into a wild mass around his head. “Fucking _finally,_ Harrington!” He yelled, turning towards him with a murderous look in his eye. 

Steve just stood there, completely confused. Why the hell was he still here? Didn’t he want to get back to...whatever the hell he’d been doing when Steve had watched last time in the club, getting deep throated by some random guy? “Get dressed, we’re late,” Billy muttered, tossing clothes at him.

“I’m not going,” Steve frowned, setting aside the clothes and watching Billy pace a few more steps, then whirl and look Steve in the eye with an angry glower. “I don’t want to…” He swallowed, trailing off as Billy came closer, almost nose to nose with him, setting his cigarette aside in the ashtray he kept by his bed. Why had he been about to say _‘I don’t want to watch you with someone else again’?_

“Why not?” Billy asked, his voice soft, but it seemed like a shout, with how close Billy was standing next to him. Steve swallowed, looking over Billy’s face, realizing suddenly - perhaps for the first time - that they were of similar height. Billy was a little more muscular, but still close to Steve’s size. They’d fit perfectly together, if they just moved a little closer. 

“Not my scene,” Steve replied, shrugging a shoulder, lowering his eyes to look anywhere but Billy’s face, realizing too late he was looking at the deep vee of Billy’s shirt, that accentuated his pecs. He swallowed thickly, ignoring Billy’s rasp of laughter.

“ _Liar,”_ Billy whispered, slamming forward and pressing Steve against the wall. Steve blinked, unable to block the blow, too stunned, and Billy was kissing him. It wasn’t anything like the one Leon had given him - all anger, lust, unraveling control, and Steve groaned, shocked at the taste of cigarette smoke and something distinctly Billy that had him hard in seconds.

Suddenly, there was chatter outside their cabin - the sounds of childlike laughter and running that told Steve some of the kids were coming back from their latest exercise on the grounds. Steve’s eyes went wide, trying to shove Billy off him, but Billy held him in place, stuffing a hand over his mouth. With the other, he reached between them, unbuttoning Steve’s jeans. Steve could hardly breathe, knowing his pulse was beating wildly for Billy to see, feeling cool air trace his cock before Billy grinned, leaning forward and licking along his cheek, and then Steve felt searing heat and skin and he went rigid when he finally realized _what_ he was feeling.

Billy ground their exposed cocks together, keeping his hand tight on Steve’s mouth like a gag, then leaned back, licking his palm, reaching between the two of them and stroking them gently with wettened fingers. Steve groaned, the sound muffled by Billy’s hand, as he increased his strokes, sending Steve’s already shattered nerve endings into a frenzy of need. His cock _ached,_ on the cliff’s edge towards orgasm, and with a few more strokes of Billy’s hand, he tumbled over the edge, sagging against Billy as he spurt all over the two of them.

Billy grunted, stiffening and pressing Steve against the wall of their cabin, muffling their noises, and Steve felt the wet heat and the scent of newly mixed semen join his own. Billy had come, growing slack against him, and Steve tried to think of what to do, never having done anything like this in his life. His mind was frustratingly blank, though.

When the sounds outside faded, Billy withdrew his hand, stroking Steve’s cheek. “Let’s get a shower, yeah?” Billy asked, sounding drowsy but pleased, his words almost sweet.

Steve just nodded, letting Billy lead the way. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Billy become lovers and potentially so much more to one another - but what happens when summer is over?

He was still too shell-shocked once they were huddled in their shared bathroom to do more than watch Billy strip then turn the shower faucets on, testing the water with his fingers as the globes of his ass flexed with each shift of his feet. That was where his eyes had stayed glued for several minutes, leaning slack-jawed against the back of the bathroom door, his dick perking again at what he saw, despite how his mind continued to reel at what they had done and might yet continue to do, hanging freely exposed out of his pants, the rest of his clothes still in place. He hadn’t forced himself to finish undressing, shaking his head in a stupor when Billy turned and frowned at the state he was in.

“Get undressed, Harrington, you’re getting in here with me. There’s plenty of room.”

“What the hell are we doing? Do you even like me?” Steve managed to ask, his voice sounding oddly muffled, expressing the shock he still felt. They’d rubbed their _dicks_ together, for Christ’s sake. Fantasies were one thing, but doing it in real life? What did this mean when they went home? Were they supposed to act like this never had happened? 

Typical of Billy, he rolled his eyes and stalked forward, reaching for the rim of Steve’s t-shirt and tugging it over his head. The back of Steve’s head slammed against the door as Billy stepped close, his lips a hair’s breadth away from his own, Billy’s fingers skating along his abdomen, lazily tugging on his pants until they, too, fell to his feet. A slight mocking smirk tugged at Billy’s lips and if Steve inhaled deeply enough, he could smell Billy’s scent in his nostrils. His cock ached again, hard and sensitive from coming so recently, but he couldn’t suppress the thick swallow that had his adam’s apple bobbing when Billy licked his lips and stroked him gently with his fingertips. He was slightly embarrassed of the whimper that left his mouth, but Billy’s answering smile made him unable to hold back the next one, too.

“I like you just fine,” Billy replied, tugging Steve’s hand after he was done arousing Steve to a fever pitch again, Steve’s eyes betraying him and lowering in a flash to see that Billy, too, was once more erect. “Or else I wouldn’t have stuck my tongue in your mouth and ground my cock with yours. Come on, shower time. Stop thinking.”

He stepped into the warm spray, feeling Billy lean toward him, reaching behind him and grabbing the soap. “Turn around,” Billy huskily whispered, and not knowing what else to do, he turned, closing his eyes as he felt Billy’s eyes on him and his hands - now slick with soap, one occupied with the bar - began to rub over his back, the globes of his ass, and the tops of his thighs. He did what Billy suggested before they stepped inside, leaning his head back and stopping the myriad of confusing emotions rippling through him, just giving in to what the sensation of Billy washing him felt like.

When Billy curled his hands around his hip bones, fisting his cock and balls loosely with soapy fingers, he groaned and pumped into the sensation. It was surprisingly arousing, exactly how he used to do it when he first discovered the nirvana that was shower masturbation when he was younger, and he found himself smiling. He almost commented that Billy was damn good at this, but then again - he supposed that was one of the perks of a male lover, they’d know exactly what to do and what felt good with a cock, having one of their own.

“Like that, do you?” Billy asked, Steve briefly blinking when he felt Billy reach behind them then settle his own erection against the crack of Steve’s ass. It felt also soaped up, with how easily it slid up and down, making Steve tense up and swallow but also twitch in surprise at how good it felt. 

“Relax, Harrington, I won’t surprise you like that,” Billy snickered, tugging Steve’s body back against his own, pinning his erection in place. As if to demonstrate, he ground between the globes of Steve’s ass, hard and slow, teasing his hole but not pressing to penetrate. Steve shuddered, shocked at how taboo - and yet how utterly good - it was. “Mmm, you like it, don’t you? Feels good, the way my dick rubs your hole? I bet me grinding against you like this’ll have you wanting me in you soon. I promise I’ll make it good for you, Harrington.”

Steve tensed again, not quite sure he was comfortable at the idea of Billy being inside him. He was internally admit, _yes,_ he was insanely curious, and the way Billy reached forward and stroked him in rhythm with his grinding thrusts made him gasp, but he was afraid of what it would mean for him. Would it hurt? He remembered the guys in the club, and the way Billy touched them in just a way, finding something inside them that made them melt, and the devil inside him wanted it _so bad_ , but he was afraid to voice it aloud. As if sensing his turmoil, Billy grunted and pumped his hips harder, rubbing his cock along the seam of his ass, fisting his cock hard enough that Steve groaned and began to move in sync with his movements, distracting him. “Stop thinking, dammit. Just let me just rut against you, _feel_ what I’m doing to you. Something that feels this good isn’t bad, okay? Fuck my hand, Harrington, until you paint the wall with your load. Do that for me, it’ll make me go, too.” 

Steve let his arms raise, levering his hands against the wall, then ground back against Billy, thrusting into the vice-like soapy grip of Billy’s fingers, edging Billy’s cock deeper against his ass, until his hole felt on fire, buzzing in pleasure each time the Billy’s cockhead scraped past it. He groaned, loudly, Billy beginning to breathe heavily, and he felt himself getting closer when Billy’s other hand squeezed his balls.

“Fucking come, before I lose it,” Billy gasped, sounding totally wrecked, something Steve had _never_ heard from him, shattering Steve’s tenuous grip on his body, stiffening as his entire cock erupted, spurting in long erratic arcs, dripping over Billy’ soaped hands, making him moan loud and long as his nerve endings caught on fire. _So fucking good,_ he thought, mewling through his orgasmic haze to feel Billy grunt, bite down on his shoulder and rut _hard_ , catching his rim once or twice - enough to make Steve gasp and twitch again, his cock weakly spurting dribbles of come over Billy’s fingers - before a glob of heat splashed against Steve’s back, telling him Billy was coming, too.

 _“Goddamn,”_ he heard Billy whisper against his shoulder, his skin stinging where Billy bit down, likely leaving a bruise, sagging in his grip as Billy shuddered through the remaining spasms of his own orgasm. “You gotta let me in that hole soon. _Fuck,_ I haven’t come that hard in a good long time.”

Steve grinned faintly, feeling confident enough to do so facing away from Billy, keeping his hands on the wall of the shower to steady his heartbeat and his legs that had turned to jelly. He wouldn’t admit it, but it was the same for him, thinking back to the men Billy had touched at the club, wanting to know if what they’d done had been better than any of those guys had tried to do to Billy but afraid to ask. Instead, he said nothing, even as Billy pulled away and washed off, then surprising Steve by washing him, too.

By the time they were out of the shower and toweling off, the dinner bell was ringing. Billy wrapped the towel around his hips and moved into the main part of their cabin space to dress. He was relieved to know Billy wasn’t going to the club tonight, but he also wasn’t sure what this meant for them going forward. Billy said he wanted inside him, so he assumed that meant they were going to continue, but despite the thrill such a possibility sent through him, he also realized he didn’t want to just be another nameless, faceless fuck to Billy. 

Pondering this, he looked at his reflection in the mirror as he adjusted and combed his hair. He didn’t look any different, despite how he felt on the inside. So he liked guys now, he guessed. As Billy would’ve said - so what? He was still Steve Harrington.

“You coming?” He heard Billy holler from the main cabin space.

“Yeah, one sec,” he called back, tossing the jumbled thoughts in his head to a dark space in the back of his mind, hurrying to get dressed. For now, the lingering doubt and concern he had would have to wait. 

* * *

“Harrington, my office!” Head counselor Kowalski called out over the camp leadership meeting. Steve was hoping his review with the head counselor went well. If Kowalski liked how he’d done in his duties, he may be asked back next year, and he hoped so. It would get him out of his home town, away from the depressing life he’d been leading with dead-end jobs, emotionless parents, and no prospects. Maybe if he got enough experience, he could even think of leaving Hawkins and going someplace else, maybe Colorado or Nevada, that serviced year-round camps. It would certainly be better than his shitty home town, too poor to afford moving out on his own, eating silent dinners with the members of his family that didn’t even care enough for each other to ask how their day had been, just eating in complete silence, lost inside their own heads.

As he stood, he caught Billy in the corner of his gaze, talking to a brother and sister duo that helped him with lake swimming duties and also taking the kids on supervised hikes. Unlike Steve, Billy seemed to flourish at camp, his natural flirtatious charm earning him a lot of admirers and friends. From what Steve could tell, Billy had been faithful to him, not ever discussing other lovers - if he had any waiting for him at home, or actively involved in the camp - but there were times Steve wondered what Billy saw in him. By the way the sister was looking at Billy, she wouldn’t think twice about taking Billy on a date and letting him do anything he’d like to her.

Sighing, he turned and headed for the counselor’s office, trying to ignore the tingling sensation that someone was staring at him as he walked towards the closed door. He hoped it was Billy, but he couldn’t be sure. Letting himself inside, he sat down and waited for Kowalski to finish writing in a notepad, thinking what he was going to do with Billy now that the summer camp was drawing to a close.

Two weeks had passed once again and neither of them had come any closer to labeling what they were to one another, not addressing their burgeoning status as lovers. Steve felt like it was a relationship, because why else would Billy only seek him out for such things, avoiding the club he’d taunted Steve with for the first few weeks of their job, just saying he’d rather stay in and save on gas? More confused than ever, Steve hated not knowing what to think. _Were they boyfriends? Friends with benefits?_ He didn’t know what else to label what they were doing - hanging out, talking on deeper and deeper subjects lately, like Billy’s abusive father, uprooting from California, Steve’s parents acting like they’d regretted having kids every time Steve was home, not to mention the shower rutting, mutual blow jobs and hand jobs, Steve never quite having the nerve yet to build up to the act of sex itself. Billy didn’t ever push him and while Steve felt a nagging sensation he would regret not going there with Billy, he was also afraid that if he did, he’d have to admit what he was just realizing: He cared about Billy, deeply, and was worried Billy didn’t quite see him the same way. 

If they went back home and Billy withdrew, acting like this was just an innocuous summer fling, it would crush him, possibly worse than Nancy’s rejection ever had. 

“So, Steve...how did you like working here this summer?” Kowalski asked, lifting his head up from his notepad, the older man flashing Steve a faint smile. “The kids seemed to really like you. You have experience watching kids?”

Steve smiled, thinking of Dustin back home, chuckling and shrugging his shoulders. “A little bit. I got an ex with a kid brother and a lot of friends. I got roped a lot into watching them and realized I kinda liked it, which is why I wanted this job. Yeah, I like it. Why? Are spots for next summer open?”

Kowalski smiled, leaning back in his seat, tapping the end of his pen against his lips. “Not yet, but I’d like you to be on them when they do. You’re good with them and I need more like you. In fact, if you’re ever interested, we’ve considered opening more times than just summer here. Sound like something you’d want to do?”

Steve smiled, relaxing, liking the sound of a place to look forward to other than his home town, living with his parents. “Yeah, I do.”

“Great,” Kowalski smiled, pushing his notepad over and offering him another pen. “Write what number I can reach you at in a few weeks and an alternate one and I’ll see what I can do.” Reaching back, he snapped an envelope, also handing it over. “The rest of your pay for this summer. You good to be out in a week?”

As Steve wrote, he swallowed, pocketing the check. _In one week, it’s back to normal Hawkins life. What does that mean for Billy and me?_ He looked up, realizing Kowalski was waiting on an answer. “Yeah,” he replied, nodding. “I’ll be all set. Thanks again for the opportunity.”

Kowalski smiled, looking over what Steve wrote down, then stood and shook his hand. “It was a pleasure working with you, son. Have a good day.”

As Steve exited the office, he didn’t know what to say, so he just smiled numbly and left, ignoring Billy’s piercing stare as he did so.

******

Later that night, Steve was trying to sleep - failing miserably, he might add - when he heard Billy chuckle outside the cabin, joking with the brother and sister duo he’d obviously snuck off with after the counselor meeting. Steve stiffened but kept his eyes shut, not moving, embarrassed to admit he strained to hear what they were saying. He couldn’t make out what the girl was murmuring, but Billy’s “No thanks, I’m seeing someone actually” made Steve’s heart pound inside his chest. _Was he referring to me? Or someone back home?_

A few minutes later, he heard the cabin door bang shut, then lock, and he felt Billy’s prying eyes on him. He forced himself to breathe evenly, still trying his best to appear asleep, even as his heart thundered in his chest hearing Billy approach his bed, stripping out of his clothes. The bed dipped, telling him Billy was joining him under the covers, where he was also naked, something they’d agreed on doing weeks back, when their little tryst had started.

“Steve,” Billy whispered, touching Steve’s back, trailing his fingers up and down his spine. The movement and the words made him shiver, another thing that endeared him to Billy, having switched from his last name to calling him Steve when they were alone together. “You asleep?”

“Mmm?” He offered sleepily, at least he thought it sounded convincing, feeling Billy gently grasp his shoulder and turn him over, leaning over him and sucking softly on his lower lip, nibbling on it with his teeth. He groaned, cupping the back of Billy’s head, deepening the tentative kiss, his cock waking up quickly, feeling Billy’ swell against his thigh.

“Fuck, I want you,” Billy whispered against his mouth, tugging Steve’s knees apart and settling between them, grinding his cock against Steve’s own. Steve shuddered, arching up, thinking rapidly on what was happening. Even knowing it would hurt to realize he might not mean as much to Billy as Billy did to him, he _needed_ to know what this felt like with him.

“So take me,” he whispered back. Billy sat up sharply, his eyes searching Steve’s, a shocked expression overtaking his face. Steve leaned up, kissing him, arching his hips, catching the tip of Billy’s cock against his rim and moaning. “Do it,” Steve whispered. “I want to know what it feels like with you inside me. _Please._ ”

“Christ, the things you do to me,” Billy muttered, sitting back and spitting on his fingers, dipping them down and dragging them across Steve’s taint, before rubbing and stimulating his hole. Before Steve could ask, Billy slipped one past the tight ring of muscle, making Steve gasp in surprise and shock, making him take another before he even realized he was mewling and humping his hips.

“I want it to be your dic-- _oh shit!”_ He gasped, arching, as something tingled and exploded inside him, at the base of his dick, buried deep inside him. _“What the hell was that?”_

Billy chuckled, the sound strained, kissing him slowly. “You know what it is. Remember the club? It’s your prostate, babe. Relax and I’ll finger it again for you.” By now, Steve could feel how excited Billy was, his precum leaking all over Steve’s inner thighs, making it slippery and wet. 

Steve groaned and took a deep breath just as Billy did it again. His calves quaked with how hard he tried to be still, but it took effort. _Holy shit, that feels --_ **_amazing._ ** “Imagine it with my dick, tagging you over and over as I fuck you…. _god.”_ Billy’s voice was gravvely and hoarse and the visual he provoked with his words had Steve groaning and nodding, gripping Billy’s shoulders. 

“Yes, _please_ , do it,” he gasped. Billy seemed to hesitate, then withdrew his fingers, spitting on his dick, asking for Steve’s spit, too. He gave it, then watched as Billy slicked up his cock and pressed up against his hole. “Bear down when I enter. I’ll go slow, give you a chance to adjust, but it may be uncomfortable at first. If it hurts, tell me. I want this to be good for you.”

When Billy pressed inside, it burned - long enough Steve moaned and winced, urging Billy to keep going when he stopped, cupping Steve’s cheek - but he bore down like Billy suggested and soon, it moved from pain to a tight discomfort, then pleasure. When Billy shifted and thrust, scraping his cock against that special spot inside him, he saw stars. “ _Oh god, right_ **_there_ ** _!_ Billy, _please! More!”_

That was all it took to break the proverbial dam and Billy was fucking him hard, fast, hammering that perfect spot, spitting a few more times to make sure the glide between thrusts was smooth, and Steve was lost in a haze of pleasure. 

“Christ, you’re tight,” Billy grit out, groaning, reaching between them to begin jacking Steve’s shaft, the smell of sex and the sound of slapping flesh filling the silence of the cabin. “I’m close, babe. Come for me.”

Between Billy pegging him directly where he needed it, the feel of his slick fingers on his cock, and the endeared way he called him ‘babe,’ Steve muffled a scream and felt his body explode into oblivion. Billy’s cock felt so much bigger inside him as his hole contracted around him during his orgasm, his cock spurting warm arcs of come between them, and not soon after he felt Billy’s cock twitch and spasm, then a blasting heat warming him from the inside. _He’s coming inside me, oh god, that feels so good._ He gasped in pleasure, fisting his hands in the sheets beneath him. “I love feeling you come in me,” he whispered, unable to help it, hearing Billy choke on a loud moan, thrusting twice more - hard fast, cock twitching, spurting its last remaining drops into Steve’s hole - then he sagged, crashing down on Steve, both of their bodies covered in sweat and come.

“Wow,” Steve finally whispered, afraid to move or touch Billy, knowing he’d give away how much he liked him and not sure how Billy would respond. “Is it always like that? With men?”

Billy didn’t move, but Steve could feel him subtly shake his head. “No, that was...something different.”

Before Steve could ask him what he meant, Billy rolled off him, gently withdrawing, then stumbled into the bathroom, passing him a damp washcloth. “I’m beat,” Billy whispered, crashing down beside him in the bed, clearly having cleaned up while he slipped off into the bathroom. “Night, Harrington.”

Steve’s heart wrenched, hearing Billy call him Harrington. They were going home in a week and it felt like the walls Billy put in place with everyone, never letting them see the gentle, beaten-up soul he hid inside, was coming back. At least he'd joined him in the same bed, not going over to his own, after Steve had let him in like that, in a way he never had before with anyone. Still, the distancing hurt and he didn't know how to take it. Were things already over between them, now that Billy got what he had wanted from Steve?

Saying nothing, he wiped himself clean and turned on his side, away from Billy, and closed his eyes. _Better get used to it now,_ he told himself.

* * *

“Quit picking at your food, son. Your mother worked hard on this dinner,” His father commented, not looking up from his own plate, making Steve freeze suddenly, overcome with the urge to slam down his fork and tell him that’s the most words he’d heard from him in over the month he’d been home.

Instead, he stopped fidgeting, forcing the dinner - which _was_ good - down his mouth, knowing his sour mood had nothing to do with his lackluster life since returning to Hawkins, and everything to do with effectively being distanced from Billy - having been shut out completely after that one fantastic night - and going nowhere once again with no college or job prospects. His parents didn’t ask how his days were, if he was dating anyone, or had plans to move out soon and do something with his life. He’d never met two people so downtrodden and stuck in the simplicities of a mediocre life in his nineteen years on earth. All he knew is in ten years, he wanted to be nothing like them.

Clearing his plate quickly, he stood and left the dining room, dropping his plate off in the sink as he moved to the back porch door, quickly stalking outside and breathing in a gulp of fresh air, tilting his head back and looking up at the moon.

What was he doing with his life? Living here, bored out of his mind, barely scraping pennies together? He had enough saved to buy a bus ticket somewhere else, where he could start over. He had some ideas and he wasn’t totally helpless...so why did he stay?

 _Because of him,_ his thoughts snaked out, making Steve grimace and reach for the trash bag by the door, marching with it down the driveway, towards the street.

Fucking Billy Hargrove was why, he knew. He’d fallen in love with the amiable asshole, damaged parts and all, and was afraid if he left, he’d never feel what he did with Billy with anyone else.

“Fucking fuck. Fuck my fucking shithole life,” he muttered, slamming the metal lid down on the trash bin, once he dumped the bag inside.

“Tell me how you really feel,” A sudden reply echoed behind him, making him whirl. It was _his_ voice, making Steve suddenly flush hot. How long had he waited to hear his voice since they returned home? It was dark but the street lights hadn’t quite come on yet, not adjusting to the fall’s early rush of nightfall, but he could make out the glow of Billy’s handsome face - a face he fantasized about too often lately - as he inhaled the end of a lit cigarette against his lips. Steve blinked, not missing the large swollen back eye and crusted blood against the left corner of his nostrils, stumbling forward before he realized.

“Y-Your dad?” He whispered, reaching up and touching his face before he consciously realized how it may look to passerbys. Billy nodded, catching his hand before it lingered too long on his face, and Steve winced, trying to withdraw. Billy’s fingers tightened on his own, holding his hand in his, not allowing him to fully let go, and Steve stared into his face, confused and also elated Billy thought to come to him after his dad must have come to blows with him again.

“That fucking asshole,” Steve muttered with a vengeance, earning a small smile from Billy. Steve swallowed, looking over Billy’s face and then at his car, seeing a couple of bags in the back. Over the summer, he’d learned his mother had left him the car, the only thing he owned outright. “What’re you going to do? Going somewhere?”

“Back to California,” Billy murmured, making Steve shudder against the inevitable heartbreak he knew he’d feel when Billy finally pulled completely away. They’d been in limbo the past month and Steve had hoped Billy would come around, but hearing this was like taking a stake to the heart. “I was hoping…” Billy hesitated, his words lingering, making Steve snap his head up, his eyes going wide. _What’s he trying to say?_

“Wanna come with?” Billy rushed out, his cheeks turning ruddy, even as his expression remained bland. Steve blinked, then smiled, feeling tears swell against his eyes. He had enough money saved, it would get them started, and Billy most likely did, too.

“Yeah,” He whispered. “I kinda like you. I think maybe I’d follow you anywhere, Billy Hargrove,” he admitted softly, his voice whisper-soft.

Billy’s stoic expression broke then, eyes glimmering, as if he was going to break down as well. “Yeah? Just like? Even after all I did to you, shutting you out?”

“Maybe a little more than that,” he whispered back, leaning forward and not caring who saw, kissing him swiftly on the mouth. “Give me ten and I’ll just go get my stuff.”

Billy grinned back, cupping Steve’s jaw and kissing him hard, thrusting his tongue in his mouth, long enough Steve’s cock began to ache. Eventually, he pulled back, swiping his thumb across Steve’s mouth, pulling off the cigarette still in his other hand. “I _more-than-like-you_ , too. Hurry your sexy ass up. The future’s waiting.”

Laughing, Steve hurried inside. He packed in under the ten minutes he promised, leaving a note for his parents to find. Maybe one day he’d call or visit - maybe he wouldn’t. One thing was for sure, he wasn’t going to turn this down.

Grabbing his stuff, he ran outside, seeing Billy grind the remnants of his cigarette underneath his boot, smiling as Steve came up, helping him toss his bags in the back seat. As Steve slid into the passenger seat, Billy slapped his hand on the roof and let out a howl of joy, then put the pedal to the metal and ground the tires into the street so hard, they sent a plume of smoke up after then as the car took off.

Steve grinned, buckling up, leaning back and closing his eyes, feeling Billy’s hand come to rest on his thigh. Threading his fingers through Billy’s, he smiled, glancing over at his former high school bully.

 _My, how times change. And to think, I almost didn’t take that summer camp job, but I'm so_ _glad I did._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient while I worked through how to end this. I always prefer HEAs, even if gay men of the 1980s had to endure being closeted or persecuted against, which still majorly sucks, so it ended as happily as I could make it.
> 
> I appreciate everyone who took the time to read my little Harringrove fic!


End file.
